Introduction to Scouts BSA Troop 64 and Troop 4064 of Portola Valley
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1. Introduction
Welcome to Troop 64 and Troop 4064. This document contains information about our troops and the Scouts BSA program.
Scouts should start work on the Scout badge/joining requirements (Scout Oath, Law, etc., on page 11 of the 13th edition of the Scout Handbook) right away, and can get signed off at upcoming meetings.
2. Meetings and Outings
2.1 Regular Meetings
We have Scout meetings on the 1st Wednesday and 3rd Thursdays of the month during the school year from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Portola Valley Town Center in the Alder Room, which is labeled Room A. Occasionally an optional offsite meeting is held the 1st or 5th Thursday to cover Scout skills.
Regular meetings kick off with an outdoor game to burn off some youthful energy. This is also an opportunity for individual Scouts to have Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster meetings, as time permits. We then move indoors and start the more formal part of the meeting with recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and Scout Oath and announcements. The core of each meeting is typically work on Scout skills or planning for upcoming events. The meeting wraps up with recitation of the Scout Law, important reminders, and the Scoutmaster’s minute.
Scouts should bring their Scout Handbooks to all meetings so that completed requirements can be signed off. Each scout’s name should be written on the outside of the front cover for easy identification at a distance.
2.2 Courts of Honor
About twice a year, approximately in December and again in June, the regular meeting is replaced by a Court of Honor in the sanctuary at Valley Presbyterian Church. This is a formal ceremony during which Scouts are officially awarded rank badges and Merit Badges.
Parents and families attend the Court of Honor. When a Scout receives a rank badge (a patch), his mother or other family member joins him and receives the corresponding pin, which goes on a ribbon that the mother is given when the scout is awarded the Scout badge.
2.3 Outings
We have about one activity per month on a weekend, sometimes for part of a day, or sometimes for the whole weekend. Outdoors examples from the past three years are Class 2 whitewater rafting on Cache Creek; the annual Trail to First Class camp out at Cutter Scout Reservation near Boulder Creek; backpacking in Montebello Open Space Preserve for one night; skiing and camping in the snow at Bear Valley; rappelling in Moaning Caverns; building and sleeping in snow caves at Carson Pass; camping, boating, and fishing at Spicer Meadow Reservoir and at Lake Sonoma; a 12-mile walk in San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge; a 20-mile hike on the Skyline to the Sea Trail; hikes up Mt. Tamalpais and Mt. Diablo; attending the Northern California Jamboree; and two-night backpacking trip in the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness near Shaver Lake and at Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park. Service examples are selling Christmas trees at the Kiwanis tree lot every November and December, helping at town clean-up and broom pull events, and placing flags on graves on Memorial Day. One Saturday in late January or early February is the Merit Badge Midway, a day of merit badge classes. In September we usually sell lunch at the Portola Valley town picnic to raise money for troop activities.
In the summer, we always have a week of summer camp: 2017 was at Camp Oljato Bay in the sierra mountains, 2018 was at Camp Cherry Valley on Catalina Island, and 2019 was at Wente Scout Reservation near Willits. The scouts love summer camp and do more to advance in rank here than anywhere else. Many parents attend and have fun as well. Parents and scouts should attend several meetings and be familiar with our troop before attending summer camp with us.
Scouts 14 and over, or 13 and done with 8th grade, are old enough to go on week-long high-adventure trips to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Florida Sea Base in Florida and the Bahamas, or Northern Tier in Minnesota, Ontario, and Manitoba. In the past our high-school-age Scouts have attended both Philmont and Florida Sea Base. We are targeting Florida Sea Base in 2020.
We currently do not hold regular meetings during the summer because so many families are out of town. This does not mean, however, that Scouting activities have to stop. In addition to summer camp, we try to have a backpacking trip. Families are free to organize camping, hiking, biking, fishing, or other trips and invite the troop or their son’s patrol. Summer is also a good time for Scouts to read their handbooks and merit badge pamphlets and work on requirements on their own or with their buddies, then call or e-mail the Scoutmaster, an ASM, or merit badge counselor to see if they are available for sign-off.
3. The Scouts BSA Program
3.1 Joining
To join Scouts BSA, a boy or girl must be 11 years old, or done with 5th grade, or be 10 years old and have earned the Cub Scout Arrow of Light. Once scouts reach age 18, they can no longer be Scouts (but they can become adult leaders or move on to Venturing). There is currently an exception for girls who were unable to join at age 11 because BSA had not yet opened the program to them. They will be given extra time to allow them the full 7 years to reach the rank of eagle.
3.1.1 Forms
To join, (1) a youth application, (2) a health form, and (3) a parental informed consent and release/indemnity/hold-harmless agreement must be filled out and signed. Youth application forms can be found at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-406A.pdf . You only need to print out the first page that you can fill out, fill it out, make copy if you want one, and bring the original to a meeting. The health form is at http://scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34605_Letter.pdf . Print it out, fill it in, have a medical doctor sign it, make a copy (you keep the original), and bring the copy to a meeting. The release/hold-harmless form is at http://www.pvtroop64.org/files/TROOP_64_PARENTAL_INFORMED_CONSENT_AND_RELEASE_FORM_9_09.doc.doc . These forms are turned in to the troop registrar, who obtains needed signatures and forwards them to the councils or files them (don’t send the forms directly to the council).
3.1.2 Dues
Dues are collected at the start of each school year. Please write a check for $100 made out to “BSA Portola Valley Troop 64” and mail or hand it to the treasurer. Scouts who join in the spring and were Webelos don’t need to pay dues until the fall; those new to the BSA pay the current registration and Boys’ Life fees.
3.1.3 Uniforms
A Scout’s family is responsible for purchasing his uniform (see store locations in the Pacific Skyline Council section). Each scout needs:
- Scout shirt, either short-sleeve (more practical) or long-sleeve. Khaki color. Shirts come with an American flag already sewn on. Most scouts get this on the large side to allow for growth. Shirts cut for girls and women are available now.
- Scout pants, either zip-off (more practical) or full-length. Olive or Forest green.
- Scout belt, if the selected pants do not already have one attached
- Scout socks. Khaki.
- World Scouting patch. Purple with white stitching.
- Pacific Skyline Council patch
- Number 6 and number 4 patches. New version is khaki with green stitching. Girls also need an additional 4 and a zero.
- Scout epaulets (shoulder loops). New version is greenish.
- Scout neckerchief. Red with yellow embroidering.
- Scout neckerchief slide.
- Sash for merit badges (needed after a scout has merit badges to sew on). This comes in short and long. Most scouts get the long sash to allow for growth.
Other patches, such as rank, position, and merit badge patches, are supplied by the Troop. When all of the above is worn (without the sash), it is called a “Class A” or “field” uniform. The sash is just worn at formal events, such as Courts of Honor.
In 2008, BSA dramatically redesigned the uniforms to the
“Centennial Uniform,” changing the cut, fabric, and patch colors. There are several shirt fabric choices: the traditional 67% cotton/33% polyester poplin, and the newer Supplex nylon and 80% polyester/20% wool. Pants are available in 67% cotton/33% polyester canvas, 55% polyester/45% wool (dry-clean only), and Supplex with zip-off legs. The Supplex is designed for moisture transport and is thus a good choice for active wear. It will melt if ironed at too high of a temperature. Most of the new pants need to be hemmed to length (no cuff).
Patches are placed as shown in the front and back covers of the Scout Handbook (see also http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34048.pdf ). The shiny backing on most of the patches is supposedly not iron-on, but does melt enough to tack patches in place with an iron on 67/37 shirts (again, be careful not to melt the fabric). This is useful for holding patches in place before sewing around the perimeter. Some people use a stick-on adhesive layer called Badge Magic that is supposed to withstand washing (see http://www.badgemagic.com/ ). Our local Scout stores carry sets of Badge Magic stickers that correspond to the patches on the Scouts BSA uniform and to merit badges. These can be removed with an appropriate solvent. There are also iron-on versions that can leave a residue.
3.2 The Ranks
As scouts participate, learn, and are tested, they advance through a series of ranks, which are Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle. Upon earning Eagle, a young man or women is considered to be an Eagle for the rest of his or her Scout career and for rest of his or her life (much as a college student, upon completion, can stay on for graduate school, but is always a college graduate).
The requirements for each rank are described in the Scout Handbook and Scout Requirements 2019. As Scouts complete requirements, these are signed off by a uniformed adult leader (the Scoutmaster or an ASM) or a designated senior Scout, typically of Star or higher rank. Requirements are listed in the 13th edition of the Scout Handbook on page 439. Requirements are updated annually to keep up with the times (e.g., recent additions cover safe Internet use and geocaching) and usually make it into annual handbook revisions. When a Scout starts work toward a rank, he or she uses the requirements as of the date upon which work toward that rank started. The book entitled Scout Requirements 2019 (or the current year), sold at Scout stores, has the up-to-date requirements. The online version at http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards.aspx is also supposed to be kept up-to-date.
Scout through First Class are the lower-level ranks. As scouts work on these, they learn and are tested on the basics of the Scout Oath and Law, camping, hiking, knots and lashings, cooking, first aid, personal safety, health and fitness, swimming, local nature, citizenship, and community service. These themes are continued in greater depth in the higher-level ranks, Star through Eagle, with the addition of leadership in the troop and more hours on service projects. For Eagle, the grand finale is a large service project planned and carried out under the direction of the Scout.
The penultimate requirement for each rank is a Scoutmaster (SM) conference, held with the SM or an ASM. Finally, a Board of Review (BoR) is held with three or four adults, ideally not ASMs, or at least not ASMs that have signed off a large number of requirements for the scout. This provides some quality control and allows for feedback from the scout on how things are going. More information about BoRs can be viewed at https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/boards-of-review/ . The date that the BoR is signed off is the official date of rank completion, rather than the date the Scout is presented with the badge.
Some internal goals within our troop are for Scouts to reach Tenderfoot by June for those joining in the spring, First Class by the end of their first year; Life by the end of the second year, and Eagle by the time they are 3½ years in. While the jury is still out about girls, boys that don’t earn Eagle before starting high school tend to find it difficult to find enough time once they’re in high school, although we have had some Scouts complete their Eagle badges while they were seniors in high school. Being able to put “Eagle Scout” on college or employment applications is a big plus for many Scouts.
3.3 Merit Badges
To earn Star, Life, and Eagle ranks, Scouts must, in addition to the service and leadership mention above, earn merit badges (MBs), which require in-depth learning and work on specific topics. Star requires six merit badges, four of which are on the list of MBs required for Eagle (see below). Life requires five more MBs, with three from the Eagle list. Eagle requires ten more MBs, with five from the Eagle list, for a total of twenty-one merit badges. After Eagle, while they are still youth, scouts can continue to earn merit badges; with each group of five more MBs, they can add Bronze, Gold, and Silver Palms to their uniforms (but they are still Eagle rank).
Scouts do not wait until they are working on Star Scout to earn merit badges, but typically earn two to four (or more in extreme cases) at summer camp each year, and a few more during the school year at Merit Badge Midway, at classes put on by our troop, and by Scouts independently deciding to earn a MB and finding a counselor to work with. Merit badge classes are taught by adult counselors. Scouts should take at least one Eagle-required merit badge each year at summer camp and at Merit Badge Midway (MBM), held in late January or early Februay.
The twelve merit badges listed below are required to earn Eagle Scout. Eagle-required merit badges can usefully be divided into the four topic areas, as follows.
3.3.1 Outdoors Merit Badges for Eagle
Camping
Environmental Science or Sustainability
3.3.2 Personal Development Merit Badges for Eagle
Communications
Personal Fitness
Personal Management
Swimming or Hiking or Cycling (select one)
3.3.3 Rescue Merit Badges for Eagle
First Aid
Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving (select one)
3.3.4 Citizenship Merit Badges for Eagle
Family Life
Citizenship in the Community
Citizenship in the Nation
Citizenship in the World
3.3.5 Elective Merit Badges
The other nine merit badges required for Eagle are electives. There are about 120 total MBs to choose from, covering a wide variety of topic areas related to the outdoors, animals, hobbies, careers, and more. The list is on pages 190 to 193 of the 11th edition of the Scout Handbook, but unfortunately is missing from the 12th and later editions. The official list with requirements can be found online at http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges.aspx . Another list, with and checklists and worksheets for the requirements, can be found online at http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges .
Some merit badges, such as Swimming MB, can be earned in a morning if the scout is already familiar with the material. Others, such as Personal Fitness and Hiking MBs, take several months, with Camping MB taking several years to accrue the requisite 20 nights of camping.
3.3.6 Sample Merit Badge Schedule
Any merit badge can be taken any time a Scout is qualified to take it. If a Scout desires to complete the merit badges and Eagle project before starting high school, one way to do so is to follow the sample schedule below.
5th grade—spring: Swimming, Camping or Hiking (classroom part), offered by troop
5th grade—summer: Environmental Science and one elective at summer camp
6th grade—fall: Camping (classroom part, if not done earlier), offered by troop
6th grade—winter: Citizenship in the Community and one elective at MBM
6th grade—spring: Personal Fitness, offered by troop
6th grade—summer: Communications and two electives at summer camp
7th grade—fall: First Aid, offered by troop
7th grade—winter: Citizenship in the World and one elective at MBM
7th grade—spring: Family Life, offered by troop
7th grade—summer: Lifesaving or Emergency Preparedness and two electives at camp
8th grade—fall: Personal Management, offered by troop
8th grade—winter: Citizenship in the Nation and one elective at MBM
8th grade—spring: Plan Eagle Scout project
8th grade—summer: Carry out Eagle Scout project; three elective MBs at summer camp
3.3.7 Merit Badge Requirement Updates
Merit badge requirements are updated periodically, sometimes with major changes (e.g., Camping MB). When a Scout starts a merit badge, he must use the requirements as of the start date, or if he or she wishes, switch entirely to the new requirements; mixing requirements is not allowed. It should be noted that merit badge pamphlets may be sold or be in the library with old requirements. Current requirements for merit badges can be found in Scout Requirements 2019 (or the current year), and are supposed to be kept up-to-date at http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges.aspx .
3.3.8 Blue Cards
Before meeting with a merit badge counselor, a Scout gets a “blue card” from the Scoutmaster or an ASM, who signs it. This signature indicates that the SM feels that the MB is appropriate for the Scout, and is normally just a formality. In rare cases, such as a small Scout wanting to take the Shotgun MB, a non-swimmer wanting to take Lifesaving or Scuba MB, or a Scout that should really be taking Eagle-required badges, the SM will tell the Scout that the badge is not appropriate. At the first MB class, the Scout gives the counselor the blue card.
There are three parts to a blue card: the application for merit badge, the applicant’s record, and the counselor’s record. All three parts have blanks for the Scout’s name and the merit badge. Some sections have blanks for the troop number, counselor’s name, and more signatures.
When a MB is completed, the counselor signs the application for merit badge and applicant’s record sections, and tears off the counselor’s record section to keep. The Scout tears off and keeps the applicant’s record section. The application section is turned in to the troop’s Advancement Chair (currently Elianne Frenkel-Poppell). Scouts can turn this in themselves, or to prevent loss by scouts (not that such a thing would ever happen), the counselor can give the application section directly to the Advancement Chair.
3.3.9 Partials
At merit badge classes with a limited duration, such as at summer camp and Merit Badge Midway, some MBs do not get completed. In such cases, the counselor fills out which requirements were completed on the applicant’s record section of the blue card and gives the whole blue card to the Scout. The Scout can later complete the remaining requirements with another counselor.
3.4 Leadership
In addition to learning skills, scouts learn leadership by doing it. Leadership positions within the troop are required starting with earning the Star rank.
Youth leadership is an ideal of Scouting. In our troop, it starts with the Patrol Leaders Council (PLC) meeting held TBD of each month during the school year. The Senior Patrol Leader (SPL), Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (ASPL), Scribe, Patrol Leaders (PLs), and a few other youth meet with the Scoutmaster and a small number of ASMs to plan the meetings for the upcoming month. Adults provide guidance as needed. The SPL is then responsible for communicating the meeting plan to the troop, and for running the meeting. If you have been to one of our meetings, you have seen this in action.
At the beginning of the school year, the scouts in our troop plan what events they would like to do during the year. For adults observing and helping, this process of calendar planning can be painfully slow, but it is a good learning-by-doing experience for the scouts. Each outing has a sponsoring Scout and family, who take responsibility for the further planning needed. Before the outing, a trip plan using a Troop 64 template is completed and e-mailed out to everyone participating.
3.5 Advancement Opportunities
The adult troop leadership will attempt to give Scouts the opportunity to learn and be signed off on requirements leading to the First Class rank several times during the year. Scouts need to take advantage of these opportunities in order to get signed off. Some requirements, such as following an orienteering course, finding directions during day and night, cooking over an open fire, and planning food for a camp out are not readily completed at meetings, but must be done on camp outs or extra meetings; it is especially important to complete these requirements when given the opportunity.
For the higher-level ranks of Star, Life, and Eagle, merit badges comprise the bulk of the work. Some Eagle-required merit badges, such as Environmental Science, Emergency Preparedness, and Lifesaving, are currently only offered for our troop at summer camp, so they should be taken there the first year that a Scout is qualified to. The adult leadership will attempt to offer classes for the other Eagle-required merit badges at least every two years. Merit Badge Midway every January or February is another chance to take several Eagle-required MBs, but there are typically a number of time-consuming perquisites.
4. Level of Participation
4.1 Youth Participation
Most of our scouts participate in other extracurricular activities like basketball, swimming, and band, so they are not able to attend all of the meetings and events, and that’s OK. Please e-mail the Senior Patrol Leader and Scoutmaster to let them know if a scout will miss a meeting. The more meetings and activities that scouts attend, the more they learn and the faster they earn new ranks.
Scouts are expected to come to meetings and outings prepared and with a good attitude.
Most merit badges require nominal homework such as reading, exercising, or recording chores that might take an hour or so per week. Many of our Scouts will have such merit badge work going on in a background.
4.2 Parent Participation
Unlike Cub Scouts, we don’t require that parents come to everything; in fact, it’s not necessary unless their son or daughter needs monitoring.
Because Scouts BSA is a volunteer organization, we require that each family “have an oar in the water.” Ways of participating include becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster, serving on the Troop Committee, being a merit badge counselor, hosting patrol meetings, and driving/chaperoning on outings. Each incoming class of scouts should have a few ASMs, with one of them dedicated to monitoring that cohort’s progress. As of June 2019, we had 5 ASMs (including two mothers) for 32 boys and 5 girls, who were spread over five grades in school.
Per BSA policy, we need at least two parents or adult leaders (at least one of which has the requisite training) on every outing, and usually more if there are more scouts. Younger scouts typically need more adult supervision than older ones. For Scouts BSA events with girls, BSA policy requires at least one fully trained adult women attend the outing.
4.3 Adult Training
We require that at least one parent from each family take the online Youth Protection Training class, which takes less than an hour. This ensures that all families know and understand some of the BSA policies (e.g., no adult-youth meetings or travel with only two unrelated people present). Parents can go to http://www.myscouting.org , set up an account, and take the class on-line at the site.
4.3.1 Assistant Scoutmaster (ASM) Training
Qualified parents can become ASMs upon taking Youth Protection Training and turning in an adult leader application. Adult leader application forms are at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/28-501F.pdf . You can print out pages 4 and 5, fill them out, make a copy of page 5 (and one for yourself if you want it), and turn them in at a meeting. A background check is performed with each application.
Training is encouraged. To be fully trained an ASM must take scoutmaster Training online, This is Scouting (an introductory class that replaces New Leader Essentials), Position-Specific Training (specialized knowledge during seven hours on a Saturday), and Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (two two-hour evenings and a Friday night campout that ends Saturday afternoon).
Uniformed adult leaders supply their own uniforms and ASM patches. For a shopping list, see the list below for Scout uniforms.
4.3.2 Merit Badge Counselor Training
An adult can be a merit badge counselor in any subject for which he or she has some experience or competence. A simple form describing the qualifications from http://old.scouting.org/forms/34405.pdf is filled out, Youth Protection Training is taken online, and a two-hour class on the second Tuesday of one month at 7:30 p.m. is attended.
Merit badges cover a wide range of citizenship, outdoors, personal development, and hobby topics including fishing, canoeing, coin collecting, archery, electronics, mammal study, wood carving, painting, weather, leatherwork, pioneering, and much, much more; see the list online at http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges .
5. Troop Structure
The troop consists of the leaders, youth members and volunteers. According to BSA policy, boys and girls are placed in separate troops. In Portola Valley we have T64 for boys and T4064 for girls. Both troops share some leadership and volunteers. We also do some activities together.
5.1 Adults
For adults, a troop is headed by a Scoutmaster. A number of Assistant Scoutmasters help. In our troop, each year class of scouts has an ASM tracking the scouts’ progress.
The adults also have a Troop Committee (TC) which includes the Committee Chairman, Chartered Organization Representative, Treasurer, Advancement Chair, Membership Chair/Registrar, Webmaster, and others. The Scoutmaster reports to the Committee. Our TC currently meets the third Wednesday of each month. The purpose of the TC is to recruit adult leaders and to support the Scout program by handling many of the infrastructure functions such as finance, meeting facilities, serving on Boards of Review, maintaining membership lists and the website, publicity, liaison with the chartering organization etc.
Adult leaders are here to guide Scouts as much as possible without performing tasks that Scouts can do themselves.
What do adults get out of this? We get designated time with our sons or daughters, outdoors experiences that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to have, comradery with other local parents, and helping to make the world a better place by raising healthy, ethical, well-informed kids with leadership and planning abilities and greater knowledge of the world around them.
5.2 Youth
The head youth Scout in the troop is the Senior Patrol Leader (SPL). He or she is assisted by the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader (ASPL) and Scribe. Other senior positions are Troop Guides, Quartermaster, and Librarian.
All of the scouts in the troop are divided into groups of roughly 5-10 scouts called patrols (analogous to the dens in the Cub Scout pack). Each patrol has a Patrol Leader (PL) and Assistant Patrol Leader (APL).
The above are all elected positions. To be eligible to run for SPL, ASPL, PL (but not APL), or Troop Guide, a scout must be First Class or higher rank.
Advanced scouts of age 16 or 17 can become Junior Assistant Scoutmasters.
In our troop, these senior scouts join various patrols for camp out cooking purposes since the requirements specify that cooking be done for 3-4 people who give the cook feedback.
At present in our troop, incoming scouts are placed into their own patrol and work together on lower-rank requirements.
6. Abbreviations and Definitions
Like many institutions, we use a lot of abbreviations. They are:
APL = Assistant Patrol Leader
ASM = Assistant Scoutmaster
ASPL = Assistant Senior Patrol Leader
BoR = Board of Review, a review meeting at the conclusion of each rank
BSA = Boy Scouts of America
Firem’n Chit = a card or patch declaring that a Scout may carry matches and build a fire
MB = merit badge, a subject-area badge
PL = Patrol Leader, the Scout in charge of a patrol
PLC = Patrol Leaders Council, which includes the SPL, ASPL, and PLs
Quartermaster = Scout in charge of equipment
Scribe = Scout that takes notes at PLC meetings
SM = Scoutmaster, the head adult
SPL = Senior Patrol Leader, the Scout in charge of the whole troop
TC = Troop Committee, which is the group of adults that supports the troop
Totn’ Chip = a card or patch declaring that a Scout may carry and use a knife and ax
Troop Guide = a senior youth than can teach subjects and sign off requirements
ULC = Uniformed Leaders Committee, which is the SM and ASMs
7. Troop, Council, BSA, and World Scouting Organization Information
7.1 Troop 64
Troop 64 has been around since the late 1960s. Since then, 85 of our boys have earned Eagle Scout. As of January 2018, our troop had 30 scouts, comprised of students in 11th to 6th grade.
7.2 Troop 4064
Founded in February of 2019, troop 4064 has 6 girls from 6th through 9th grades. Four of the girls attended summer camp at Wente Scout Reservation and one of them came back with 6 merit badges.
You can see some more about our troops online at our website www.pvtroop64.org. More detailed information can be accessed on the “Members Only” page. Ask the Scoutmaster for the username and password. We keep the website up to date with troop events and information.
Every troop has a sponsor, or chartering organization. Ours is the Kiwanis Club of Menlo Park. We provide volunteers for various Kiwanis events, including annual Christmas tree sales.
7.3 Pacific Skyline Council
The Pacific Skyline Council’s Web site is http://www.pacsky.org . This has a useful calendar of upcoming events and contact information for the local Scout stores. The main phone number is 650-341-5633 and the fax is 341-4527. Pac Sky is BSA Council # 031.
7.3.1 The Region
Troop 64 belongs to the Redwood District, which includes Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, Woodside, and La Honda. Redwood is one of three districts in the Pacific Skyline Council, covering San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. There are 89 boy troops and 23 girl troops in our council, in addition to 109 Cub Scout packs. Pack 163 serves Portola Valley and the surrounding area.
7.3.2 Scout Stores
Books, uniforms, and more can be purchased at the Palo Alto Trading Post at 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301 (just north of Embarcadero, at the north end of the Lucille Stern Center), 650-327-5900. This is only open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m and half a day on Saturday mornings. Call ahead, as hours are subject to change and the store may be closed for lunch.
Farther away, but with a better selection, is the Peninsula Scout shop at Pacific Skyline headquarters, 1150 Chess Drive, Foster City, CA 94404, 650-358-0588. It is open Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., plus Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Check online or call ahead, as hours are subject to change and the store may be closed for lunch.
7.3.3 Camps
Pacific Skyline Council owns Camp Oljato, a summer camp on Huntington Lake across from Lakeshore in the Sierra Nevada; Cutter Scout Reservation in the redwoods near Big Basin; and Boulder Creek Scout Reservation near Boulder Creek.
We can also camp at other local and summer camps.
7.3.4 Events
The Redwood District hosts an annual comporee, which is a local campout attended by many troops at which various competitions are held. We have not participated for several years.
The council also hosts a Scout-O-Rama every year or so to showcase Scouts BSA activities, such as Dutch-oven cooking and pioneering (building structures of wood and rope).
The district or the council has sponsored the Trail to First Class camp out for a few years in the mid-spring. This camp out at Cutter Scout Reservation is a golden opportunity to work on many of the requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class.
7.3.5 Funding
There are hundreds of Scouts BSA councils spread across the United States. They each have head offices, Chief Executives, Scout stores, summer camps, local camps, and their own budgets. About half of Pacific Skyline Council’s income is from donations directly to the council (and not through United Way). The Council’s Fair Share program requests an annual donation from families with Scouts.
7.4 Boy Scouts of America National Council
BSA national headquarters are in Irving, Texas. The Web site is http://www.scouting.org. It has the most recent version of many forms at http://www.scouting.org/Media/forms.aspx . If you want to save a trip to a local Scout store, many Scout-related items can be purchased online at http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsasupply/ .
William D. Boyce was introduced to Scouting on a visit to England in 1909. Impressed with what he learned, he founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. Since that time, several other youth organizations have merged with the BSA. There are currently about 2.5 million Cub Scouts, 1.2 million Boy Scouts, and 0.9 million Venturers (and related) in the US, supported by a total of 1.2 million adult leaders.
In February 2019, BSA renamed their program to Scouts BSA and began including girls. Since then about 8000 girls have joined.
The National Council hosts a National Jamboree every four years or so, attended by tens of thousands. The last one was in Virginia in 2017. BSA owns three high adventure bases: the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, the Florida Sea Base, Northern Tier base in Minnesota, and Summit Bechtal Reserve in West Virginia. Most of their programs are for age scouts 14 and up. We won the lottery to attend Philmont in 2011.
7.5 World Scout Movement
Boy Scouting was founded by Sir Robert Baden-Powell in England in 1907. After returning as a military hero from service in Africa, Baden-Powell discovered that English boys were reading the manual he had written for British soldiers on stalking and survival in the wilderness, Aids to Scouting. Gathering ideas from Americans Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, and others, he rewrote the manual as Scouting for Boys covering nonmilitary nature skills.
There are currently about 25 million youth (both boys and girls), in all but a handful of countries, worldwide. We all wear on our uniforms a purple patch with a white square knot and fleur-de-lis showing that we are part of this greater organization. The World Scout Bureau is in Geneva, Switzerland and its Web site is http://www.scout.org . A World Scout Jamboree is held every four years, with the last one being in 2019 in the United State of America.